The Prisoner of Azkaban | Hermione Granger x Male Reader (Book Three)

10. An Intruder

Y/N's POV

"There you go," said Ron, "we got as much as we could carry."

A shower of brilliantly coloured sweets fell into Harry's lap, Hermione dumped some sweets on my lap as well. It was dusk, and Ron and Hermione had just turned up in the Common Room, pink-faced from the cold wind and looking as though they'd had the time of their lives.

"Thanks," I said, picking up a packet of tiny black Pepper Imps, "what's Hogsmeade like? Where did you go?"

By the sound of it, they went everywhere. Dervish and Banges, the wizarding equipment shop, Zonko's Joke Shop, into the Three Broomsticks for foaming mugs of hot butterbeer, and many places besides.

"The post office, Y/N! About two hundred owls, all sitting on shelves, all colour-coded depending on how fast you want your letter to get there!" Hermione exclaimed.

Me and Harry listened to them go on and on about Hogsmeade.

"What did you do?" said Hermione, looking anxious. "Did you get any work done?"

"No," I said, "Lupin made us a cup of tea in his office. And then Snape came in..."

Harry told them all about the goblet. Ron's mouth fell open.

"Lupin drank it?" he gasped. "Is he mad?"

Hermione checked her watch.

"We'd better go down, you know, the feast'll be starting in five minutes." we hurried through the portrait hole and into the crowd, still discussing Snape.

"But if he, you know-" Hermione dropped her voice, glancing nervously around, "-if he was trying to-to poison Lupin, he wouldn't have done it in front of Harry."

I still had my theory of Lupin being a werewolf but I didn't share it with them.

"Yeah, maybe," I said, as we reached the entrance hall and crossed into the Great Hall. It had been decorated with hundreds and hundreds of candle-filled pumpkins, a cloud of fluttering live bats, and many flaming orange streamers.

The food was delicious, even Hermione and Ron, who were full with Honeydukes sweets, managed second helpings of everything. I kept glancing at the staff table. Professor Lupin looked cheerful and as well as he ever did, he was talking animatedly to tiny little Professor Flitwick, the Charms teacher.

The feast finished with entertainment provided by the Hogwarts ghosts. They popped out of the walls and tables to do a bit of formation gliding, Nearly Headless Nick, the Gryffindor ghost, had a great success with a reenactment of his own botched beheading.

It had been such a pleasant evening that my good mood couldn't even be spoiled by Malfoy, who shouted through the crowd as we all left the hall. "The Dementors send their love, L/N!"

Me, Harry, Ron, and Hermione followed the rest of the Gryffindors along the usual path to Gryffindor Tower, but when we reached the corridor that ended with the portrait of the Fat Lady, they found it jammed with students.

"Why isn't anyone going in?" said Ron curiously.

I peered over the heads in front of me. The portrait seemed to be closed.

"Let me through, please," came Percy's voice, and he came bustling importantly through the crowd, "what's the holdup here? You can't all have forgotten the password, excuse me, I'm Head Boy..."

And then a silence fell over the crowd, from the front first, so that a chill seemed to spread down the corridor. They heard Percy say, in a sudden sharp voice. "Somebody get Professor Dumbledore. Quick."

People's heads turned, those at the back were standing on tiptoe.

"What's going on?" asked Ginny, who had just arrived.

A moment later, Professor Dumbledore was there, sweeping toward the portrait, the Gryffindors squeezed together to let him through, and me, Harry, Ron, and Hermione moved closer to see what the trouble was.

"Oh, my-" Hermione grabbed my arm.

The Fat Lady had vanished from her portrait, which had been slashed so viciously that strips of canvas littered the floor, great chunks of it had been torn away completely. Dumbledore took one quick look at the ruined painting and turned, to see Professors McGonagall, Lupin, and Snape hurrying toward him.

"We need to find her," said Dumbledore, "Professor McGonagall, please go to Mr. Filch at once and tell him to search every painting in the castle for the Fat Lady."

"You'll be lucky!" said a cackling voice.

It was Peeves the Poltergeist, bobbing over the crowd and looking delighted, as he always did, at the sight of wreckage or worry.

"What do you mean, Peeves?" said Dumbledore calmly, and Peeves's grin faded a little. He didn't dare taunt Dumbledore. Instead he adopted an oily voice. "Ashamed, Your Headship, sir. Doesn't want to be seen. She's a horrible mess. Saw her running through the landscape up on the fourth floor, sir, dodging between the trees. Crying something dreadful," he said happily, "poor thing." he added unconvincingly.

"Did she say who did it?" said Dumbledore quietly.

"Oh yes, Professor," said Peeves, "he got very angry when she wouldn't let him in, you see." Peeves flipped over and grinned at Dumbledore from between his own legs.

"Nasty temper he's got, that Sirius Black."

At the sound of that news, everyone gasped and my stomach dropped. Sirius Black had tried to get into the Gryffindor Common Room.

Professor Dumbledore sent all the Gryffindors back to the Great Hall, where we were joined ten minutes later by the students from Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin, who all looked extremely confused.

"The teachers and I need to conduct a thorough search of the castle," Professor Dumbledore told them as Professors McGonagall and Flitwick closed all doors into the hall, "I'm afraid that, for your own safety, you will have to spend the night here. I want the Prefects to stand guard over the entrances to the hall and I am leaving the Head Boy and Girl in charge. Any disturbance should be reported to me immediately," he added to Percy, who was looking immensely proud and important, "send word with one of the ghosts."

Professor Dumbledore paused, about to leave the hall, and said. "Oh, yes, you'll be needing..."

One casual wave of his wand and the long tables flew to the edges of the hall and stood themselves against the walls, another wave, and the floor was covered with hundreds of squashy purple sleeping bags.

"Sleep well," said Professor Dumbledore, closing the door behind him.

The hall immediately began to buzz excitedly, the Gryffindors were telling the rest of the school what had just happened.

"Everyone into their sleeping bags!" shouted Percy. "Come on, now, no more talking! Lights out in ten minutes!"

"C'mon," Harry said to me, Ron and Hermione, we seized four sleeping bags and dragged them into a corner.

"Do you think Black's still in the castle?" Hermione whispered anxiously.

"Dumbledore obviously thinks he might be," said Ron.

"It's very lucky he picked tonight, you know," said Hermione as we climbed fully dressed into their sleeping bags and propped themselves on our elbows to talk, "the one night we weren't in the tower..."

"I reckon he's lost track of time, being on the run," said Ron, "didn't realise it was Halloween. Otherwise he'd have come bursting in here."

Hermione shuddered.

Me and Harry stayed silent, I refused to talk. If we weren't at the feast, Sirius Black might of gotten me or Harry. On top of everything, I still had to fix things with Ron. I wanted to speak to him but it was hard. What was even harder was not worrying about the fact a mass murderer was after me.